| Queens Park Rangers 0 Millwall 0: match report Derby rivals who had not faced one another for five years forget how to concoct engrossing drama. telegraph.co.uk |
Wasteful Barcelona Held In Kazan Again KAZAN, Russia (Reuters) - Barcelona paid the price for wayward finishing as they were held to a 1-1 draw by their bogey-team Rubin Kazan in Champions League Group D on Wednesday. feeds.nytimes.com |
The Fiver: Hovering In Mid Air Like A Humming Bird | Scott Murray Click here to have the Fiver sent to your inbox every weekday at 5pm(ish), or if your usual copy has stopped arrivingLIVERPOOL SALE: IT'S OVER, EXCEPT NOT QUITE, WE'RE TOO TIRED, OH LOOK, FRANCEEarly this morning, the Fiver went outside and stood on the grass. We held our arms out by our side, like Jesus on the cross. Slowly, we lowered them, so our arms hung loose. Then we raised them again. Then we lowered them again. Then we raised them again, only this time a bit quicker than before. Then we lowered them again, only this time a bit quicker than before. Then we raised them again, only this time even quicker than before. Then we lowered them again, only this time even quicker than before. After following this pattern for about half an hour, the Fiver found itself hovering in mid air like a hummingbird. We looked down at a slowly changing scene. Fiver Towers. Some houses. The M25. Some grass. Granny Fiver's seaside deathcottage. The sea. France. And so it was that we were finally able to confirm that, yes, despite civil war exploding in the Anfield boardroom 937 years ago, the world has continued to turn since.Not that you'd know it from the way today's events have been reported. If you didn't know better, you'd surmise from the breathless delivery of the hundreds of television news reporters swarming outside a courtroom in Dallas that Hitler's just rocked up again, but he really is quite cross this time and no messing. In fact, what's happened is, a man gave another man a piece of paper, and now he's taken back the piece of paper. That's right, news junkies, Tom Hicks has withdrawn the temporary injunction he filed yesterday to stop the sale of Liverpool to New England Sports Ventures. So that sale's going ahead now, leaving Hicks to pursue $1.6bn damages from a deal he describes as an "epic swindle [that will] result in exactly the wrong thing for the club and the fans".Robbie Fowler alone knows how this one is going to pan out, so unlike every other hack in the country, the Fiver isn't going to insult you by winging it. We haven't got a cocking clue. In any case, Liverpool fans surely have bigger things to worry about: to wit, they've got to play Everton away on Sunday in an attempt to pull themselves out of the relegation zone, only they've got to do it with Christian 0/6 Poulsen in the team. "We are naïve in our expectations sometimes," began manager Roy Hodgson's strident defence of the player today. "We sign a good player from abroad and then expect him to go and play like Steven Gerrard from the first moment. That doesn't happen." Oh but it does, Roy, as anyone who's seen both Poulsen and Gerrard play international football recently will be able to attest. All in all, another day of great potential for Everton.In a scene reminiscent of peak time in a Taiwanese sweatshop, Sport Blog Ed Steve Busfield is shackled to a desk, weeping salty tears and typing his fingers to the bone in our rolling writ-by-writ report. Read the fruits of his labour here.QUOTE OF THE DAY"John Bond has blackened my name with his insinuations about the private lives of football managers. Both my wives are upset" - flamboyant, fedora-wearing former Manchester City manager Malcolm Allison, who died today, aged 83.£66 HAT-TRICK OF FREE BETS WITH BLUE SQUAREClick here to find out more.FIVER LETTERS"Re: Wayne Rooney's niggling knack (yesterday's Fiver). Has it occurred to you that Alex Ferguson just likes to say 'niggling knack' a lot. I know I do" - Beady Williams."Re: Greater Manchester Police Call 543 (yesterday's Fiver). Smell traced to latest press-release from local deranged, statistic-quoting, Real Madrid-courting, football manager" - Greg Scully."Every day I read the Fiver, I learn something new. For example, yesterday I learned that Weird Uncle Fiver is probably from Marple. As for your claim that the Tim Lovejoy commercial is the worst advert ever (yesterday's last line). Really?" - Todd Van Allen. [Yes really. And here's how the magic was created - Fiver Masochism Ed.]Send your letters to the.boss@guardian.co.uk. And if you've nothing better to do you can also tweet the Fiver now.BITS AND BOBSLord Ferg has likened media speculation about a possible rift between him and Wayne Rooney to somebody pouring water on a duck's back, then scratching their head in confusion as the water rolls off the duck's back.Despite nobody having a clue who owns the Liverpool, somebody at Anfield has handed Jamie Carragher a new two-year contract, which he has signed.Aston Villa manager Ged Houllier has shown his faith in defender Curtis Davies by farming him out to Leicester City on a month's loan.Manager Gordon Chisholm and his No2 Billy Dodds have been made redundant by Dundee after the Scottish First Division club was placed in administration. "We're angry and people have to be made accountable," fumed Dodds.And Lincoln City have appointed Steve Tilson as their new manager in a novel selection process, with one source reporting the 44-year-old had to "beat off Dave Penney, Steve Thompson and Mick Harford to land the job".STILL WANT MORE?In a feature that would benefit greatly from the soundtrack that accompanies Wile E. Coyote running over the edge of a cliff, Scott Murray highlights a half-dozen mazey slaloms in The Joy of Six: Great dribbles.James Richardson pretends he understands Serbian in order to impress a large slice of chocolate cake in this week's newspaper round-up.Ewan Murray takes time out from chasing the moose loose aboot his hoose to muse on Dundee's meltdown in his Friday afternoon fitba blawwwwwwggggggggg.James Dart backs Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth to win this weekend in his tipping column. Regular readers stampede to the nearest betting exchange and lay them.Nobody likes a quitter, but everybody likes Charlie Brooker. In his valedictory Screen Burn, the iPhone-obsessed misanthrope explains why his hair isn't the only thing to have been adversely affected by those increasingly frequent TV appearances. [Hurrah! The Fiver shoots one rung up the Guardian "funny" pecking order - Fiver Ed] And with Norwich taking on QPR in the Championship, Chris Borg wistfully recalls the season they finished third and fifth in the Premier League, back in the season Sky invented football.SIGN UP TO THE FIVERWant your very own copy of our free tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox? Has your regular copy stopped arriving? Click here to sign up.WORST. CHARITY SONG. EVER.Scott Murrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Toronto FC: When did it all go wrong? Toronto FC's 2010 MLS season was doomed for failure after the club's owners gave former GM Mo Johnston a two-year contract extension last summer. cbc.ca |
QPR 0-0 Norwich City During his time as manager of Sheffield United Neil Warnock revelled briefly in the nickname "the Championship Mourinho". There may – beyond the portals of Warnock Towers, at least – have been an element of irony in this, but there is undoubtedly something special about his record at this level.This week's Championship manager of the month gong was his sixth, a record, and even a 0-0 draw against a tenacious Norwich City could not quench the Queens Park Rangers manager's excellent spirits. "I thought it was a fabulous game, we just needed a bit of devilment to finish things off," he said after seeing Rangers extend their unbeaten run to 11 matches. "If you don't enjoy coming to QPR at the moment there's something wrong with you. It's exciting here. All the 'oohs' and 'aahs'. It's a great advert."This was a slow-burning performance from Rangers in front of a 18,059 Loftus Road full house, their best crowd for six years. Kaspars Gorkss shot just wide as the ball fell to him at a corner on 13 minutes, but for the rest of the first half Rangers dominated possession without finding much space near goal. Adel Taarabt, in particular, scampered elusively but to little effect in attack. Taarabt has lovely vision: one instant cross-field pass between two defenders seemed to surprise even its recipient, Heidar Helguson, who dithered when he might have run in on goal.Norwich's best chance of the match came with the award of a rather soft penalty on 26 minutes, Clint Hill pulling down Grant Holt as both players tussled beneath Wes Hoolahan's cross. "Grant is a clever lad," was Warnock's verdict. Hoolahan's spot-kick was anything but clever: Paddy Kenny dived the right way but had the luxury of watching the ball trickle a yard wide of his left-hand post.Hoolahan, who had scored from the spot in Norwich's past two games, looked desolate. "That kid's been unplayable at times this season," his manager, Paul Lambert, said afterwards. "He'll bounce back from that."Rangers forced a series of corners after the break and almost broke through on 64 minutes as Kyle Walker shot from 25 yards and saw the ball deflect off Jamie Mackie's back and just over the bar. At the other end the persevering Holt found himself in space from Simeon Jackson's pass, but shot wildly over from 10 yards. Five minutes later Gorkss, now sporting a rugged white headband, saw his header cleared off the line by Andrew Crofts as Rangers switched briefly to a four-man forward line and began to play long passes from the flanks. Still Norwich defended stoutly. "I thought we were excellent and hugely unlucky not to win it," Lambert said at the end. They certainly deserved a point.ChampionshipQPRNorwich CityBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |